Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday met his Israeli counterpart Naftali Bennett, who succeeded Benjamin Netanyahu in June, on the sidelines of the COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow, UK, and reaffirmed to work together to enhance the strong bilateral ties between the two countries.
Their meeting came days after the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), global watchdog against terror financing, grey-listed Turkey and kept Pakistan on it. Ankara, which had been firing on all cylinders since the last couple of years to wrest the Islamic world’s leadership from Riyadh, had to rescind its decision to expel ambassadors of nine countries, including the US, for supporting pro-democratic forces. For the first time since 2015, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been on the back foot.
The last week was diplomatically fruitful for India. In the absence of Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, PM Modi hogged the limelight at Rome during the G-20 meeting in Rome. He hugged many leaders, including US President Joe Biden and British PM Boris Johnson, to show continuing camaraderie. Besides, he also met Pope Francis at The Vatican and invited him to India.
It is part of this diplomatic outreach he reset India’s relations with Israel as well, his first major move on Jerusalem after the exit of Netanyahu. In the fluctuating diplomatic scenario and realignment of countries, Saudi Arabia has resumed financial aid to Pakistan, whose relations with Turkey have cooled off.
“The people of India deeply value the friendship with Israel”, Modi said during his interaction with the Israeli PM. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar was also present in the cordial meeting, the media reported.
In a video Modi tweeted, the two leaders were seen exchanging pleasantries during their animated discussion. “Indeed! We shall continue working together for stronger bilateral ties and for a better planet,” Modi tweeted on Tuesday.
“The people of India deeply value the friendship with Israel,” he said. Prime Minister Bennett, in a tweet, replied, “it was truly great to finally meet you, @NarendraModi.”
Their meeting came after Dr. S Jaishankar, during his October visit to Israel, invited the Israeli PM to India on Modi’s behalf.
Israeli media reports said that Bennett, who succeeded Netanyahu in June 2021, may visit India next year. The two countries had elevated their bilateral relations to a “strategic partnership” during the historic visit of PM Modi to Israel in July 2017.
Since then, the relationship between New Delhi and Jerusalem has focused on expanding knowledge-based partnership, including collaboration in innovation and research, and boosting the ‘Make in India’ initiative.
In Glasgow, Modi also met Suriname President Chan Santokhi on the sidelines of the climate summit.